LJ/FB/Twit, and: there's a bed in the TARDIS console room????

[dbskyler]

Just saw part 1 of "Planet of the Daleks," and I am still LOLing at the pull-out bed in the TARDIS console room. And Jo knows where it is? I'm not a shipper, really I'm not, but if I were, I would find that interesting. Very . . . interesting. Also, yay for Barbara / Ian / Susan namechecks! I think this is going to be good. I haven't seen anything other than part 1 yet, so don't spoil me for what's coming up next, please!

In other news . . . gosh, anything new on LJ lately? Oh yes, that's right, this. I confess that I've been checking back there on-and-off all day, because it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. As of right now, there are 123 pages with 7,888 comments, mostly unanimously proclaiming their dislike of the new post-to-Facebook-and-Twitter checkboxes. I don't know if it's because they're afraid to come out, but I've actually seen no one who seems to want this -- the votes seem either against, or "what's the big deal?" Personally, I'm firmly on the "against" side, for reasons that I will likely discuss in a later post. In the meantime:

For the record, I will never cross-post anything to either site from LJ, either from here or from anyone else's journal or community. In case anyone is interested, easy-to-follow instructions on how to get rid of the cross-post checkboxes for many people visiting your journal can be found here. It doesn't guarantee that people can't cross-post their comments from your journal, but it reduces the possibility.

I've also opened a Dreamwidth account, since people have been throwing around invites like confetti. At present it's a placeholder only, so there's no point in trying to friend me there if you're on DW. I don't know if I'll move over there or not -- I'm going to wait to see what happens on LJ first, and how this all goes down. I have to admit, though, that for the first time ever, I am considering the possibility.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

oh! I've got a whole heap of Third Doctor stories (Jo and Sarah Jane) waiting to be watched. I should dig into the pile and start watching!

LJ are morons who've never heard of beta-testing, apparently...

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Thinking about how SJA will be (hopefully) airing in the not-too-distant-future, I've been in the mood to watch a lot of Jo and Sarah Jane! "Planet of the Daleks" is exciting because I've never seen it -- alas, the same is not true of the Sarah Jane stories.

As for LJ, I kind of get the feeling that the change was sprung on us on purpose, and that at least some staffers (the US ones, at least) were expecting this reaction. There's been one interesting response from a staffer here: http://community.livejournal.com/lj_releases/61333.html?thread=3733909#t3733909

So, hopefully a fix is coming.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I've not seen many of Jo's stories - mostly Sarah Janes and all of Liz's so far... SJA should be starting the end of this month, I think.

Oh, and did you listen to the Katy Manning Podcast that Big Finish released earlier in the week? She talks, briefly (in a non-spoilery way) about doing the SJA towards the end of the podcast. I'd recommend listening anyway as it's so funny - I was crying with laughter at the start as she took the pi$$ out of Briggsy something chronic!

Well good - LJ were dumb to launch this without warning or even consultation, and without giving people the choice to opt-out from the outset!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Oh, you must watch more Three-and-Jo episodes! Not that I've seen them all, either, but out of the ones I've seen, my favorites have been "Claws of Axos," "Three Doctors" and "Frontier in Space."

I didn't listen to the podcast -- I tend to stay away from things like that in case they contain spoilers. If you promise it's non-spoilery, though, I'll see if I can find it and listen.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I plan to! It's just that writing and work are taking up most of my time - and with Law & Order: UK, Fringe, Castle, The Mentalist and Spooks all starting up again soon, I'm not sure I can fit in DW as well!

Well there's a clip/clips from the Jo & Iris Companion Chronicle in it - not sure if you'd consider that spoilery or not, but there are no SJA spoilers in it - and she's very nice about working with Matt and the SJA "crew"!

It's here: http://www.bigfinish.com/news/Katy-Manning-Podcast

[tempestas-inu.livejournal.com]

I have no real opinion on the whole cross-posting thing because I don't use either facebook or twitter (yeah, behind the times, I know...) so its of no consequence to me.

I have no bearing on whether or not you choose for yourself to use dreamwidth, but I will say that if you go I'll miss you. Certainly anyone in general can view dreamwidth accounts but cross contact between dreamwidth and livejournal isn't the most compatible even if they are related sites, and I doubt I'll go through the trouble of paying for an account :P Though do whatever you think is best.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

In terms of practical impact, it's of no consequence to me, either -- I don't post very sensitive information, not even on my flocked posts, so if something did happen to get out, I wouldn't be happy about it but it wouldn't be absolutely horrible. However, I recognize that other people depend upon the sanctity of the flock, and I am concerned for them, and also unhappy about how the LJ culture might change if LJ becomes an extension of Facebook -- which seems to be exactly what the LJ higher-ups want to happen.

I grabbed a Dreamwidth invite code while the getting was good -- if you want one, there are tons getting posted right now on the LJ news post and also at http://dw-codesharing.dreamwidth.org. The invite codes get you an account for free. I don't know if I'll ever actually move over there, but if I do, I'll definitely keep an LJ presence for at least a while, and possibly a long while (DW allows you to cross-post to here). So don't worry, I'll still be around, one way or another!

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Ooh yes. The bed. Teeheehee. I'll have to rewatch some three&Jo before this series of SJA! (when is it when is it???)

Sigh. I really hope they'd see reason about the whole FB/twitter. Really, I don't why they can't just let uninterested people block this completely. Since when did LJ become Facebook when it comes to privacy?? I hate FB cos you have to check after them 3 times a day more or less with the ridiculous ways they change their privacy settings all the time. I didn't expect LJ to join in on the stupid.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I think the FB/Twitter connection is here to stay, and is exactly the direction in which the LJ owners want to head. They don't want to let uninterested people block it -- they want to keep reminding people about the cross-posting option in the hope that they will succumb. They want "xxx.livejournal.com" to show up as often as possible on Facebook and Twitter. But I am still holding out hope that they will rethink the cross-posting of comments, especially the cross-posting of comments on flocked posts.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

Being married to an engineer sometimes just sleeps next to his work because he won't/can't stop until it's finished, I saw it as an 'emergency work cot' - I expect a bit of dalliance would have been back in one of those nice rooms with something more comfortable. ;-) But yes... it's rather surprising it hasn't turned up in more stories, the way so many of said stories seem to be written.

I'm opening a Dreamwidth account this weekend - at the very least I may use it for my fic archive, waiting to see what's what as to where my daily activities will be focused.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

It's one of the things I love about Doctor Who, actually -- how these random things like a bed (or work cot) in the console room can suddenly appear for the sake of a plot point, even though they were never mentioned before, then just disappear again.

I'm holding off on importing content to Dreamwidth, but I'm going to start poking around, trying to get a better sense of communities over there and how the whole site feels.

[clocketpatch]

You know, it is rather surprising that the TARDIS bed hasn't shown up in more fic all considered. I do love that episode though, and the one proceeding it. It's Jo at her best.

As for LJ's current fail... I've opened up a DreamWidth account just in case. I don't want to move over there. It's a lot of bother learning a new system and then importing to it. But... if LJ's owners are somehow convinced that the best way to make their site profitable is by alienating their users, so be it (heck, it might actually be more profitable if the advertisers are looking at web presence).

Dx

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

You know, it is rather surprising that the TARDIS bed hasn't shown up in more fic all considered.

It is. I guess most people just write about the characters adjourning to a bedroom, but why bother when there's a bed right there? ; )

And yeah, I'm not wild about moving to Dreamwidth either, but I have a really bad feeling about this change to LJ. I think they're changing their business model, and honestly don't care about keeping their current users happy. Whether that results in a place where we can still have our own little subculture, or whether it results in a place I don't want to hang around in anymore, is the big question.